A few young Scout leaders in Boronia have brought scouting back to life in their area in the last year, celebrating in their hall last month and attending a major event in late September as well.
Attending Kangaree 2025 in Mount Martha with some of their Joey Scouts in tow, Reanna Lawson, 19 and Riley Rain, along with McKenzie Lewis both aged 20 have been leading the group, bringing energy and connection to the area.
Joey Scout Leader, Ms Lawson said the year has seen the kids coming out of their shell and just getting that little bit more confident and developing and the attending Kangaree was a huge highlight.
“I was super, super happy that we got them out there, Riley and I both went as leaders as well,” she said.
Kangaree is a Joey Scout adventure that happens just once every three years and brought together 1,200 Joey Scouts from across Victoria.
The Boronia Scouts reformed with the help of their District Scout Leader in Charge, Keiron Younger in February 2025, after a decline in the beloved youth organisation in Boronia during COVID-19.
The Joey Scout leaders have launched regular activities at the Chandler Hall and have been growing ever since.
“Kieron proposed this idea in April 2024 when we read at a service for Anzac Day,” said Ms Lawson.
Starting scouts at the age of six in Monbulk, Ms Lawson herself is now a Rover, the last youth age bracket for Scouts which is for 18 to 25 year olds, said she, Riley, Mckenzie and Kieron have all grown up in the scouting world.
“Rovers are a good social thing, because once you leave school and you turn 18, a lot of people lose their social connections,” she said.
Mr Younger, who is 28 years old himself said the scouts had previously attempted to get up again in 2023, but weren’t successful at that time.
“I had learnt that Boronia, as a township, had a lack of community connections,” he said.
“No one knows their neighbours anymore, Boronia has an increasingly diverse population who traditionally are underrepresented in clubs and sports, plus an ageing demographic.”
The Scouts got to work, creating open nights throughout 2024 to show people what they could offer.
“Child safety and youth crime is a big topic in our area,” said Mr Younger.
“It can be a tricky suburb and we put a lot of effort, getting people and families in and getting us known,” said Ms Lawson.
With a few open nights, school visits, fliers and more, the Scouts have now recruited a regular group of Joeys.
“Come August 2025, we released our annual report showing that not only could these young adults lead a program for our Joey Scouts to enjoy, but execute it for a very small cost,” Mr Younger.
“Our families are feeling the cost of living, so we have tailored our program to be affordable, all up per term activities cost us per child around $9.30 to run,” he said.
The regular program consists of the basics of the Scouting, community involvement, personal development, learning by doing as well as aspects of outdoor activities.
The unit meets at least once a week within school term dates doing a range of activities with anything from axe throwing to learning about microplastics in the ecosystem on the agenda.
The newly formed club will now face ongoing challenges ahead, with costs and maintenance for their hall an issue, with both rent raises and the fact that halls would no longer being able to host sleepovers for Scouts due to building classification codes.
Earlier this year Knox City Council told Knox District Scouts at a meeting in June that the specific arrangements for a new lease between the Scouts and Council, including their annual rental amounts, will remain in negotiation.
Scout leaders said at the time that the approach is out of step after a long history of safe, community-led practice, and the changes would see emotional and financial consequences for hundreds of families across Knox.
Scouts already do a lot of fundraising to keep themselves running, collecting 10-cent containers and running regular BBQs to keep the cost of activities down.
Ms Lawson said being a young leader in Boronia has been a fun challenge and that she plans to the vital volunteering work, enjoying the joey age bracket of five to eight year olds.
“I think they’re a lot of fun, they have a lot of energy and a good perspective on life, they are just so happy, and the smaller things make them excited,” she said.
“It makes me feel like a big kid, which I have a lot of fun with.”
“Next year – we are planning on promoting our Cub Scout Program for eight to 11-year-olds,” said Mr Younger.
